Auction House Deposit Changes to Discourage Single-Stack Listings

Blizzard has posted details on how Auction House deposits will change to discourage players from listing trade skill materials in single-stack listings. This is now testable on the PTR but is not yet on live servers.\r\rAs part of this fix, Blizzard plans to increase the deposit cost of some trade skill materials on a per-stack basis, which encourages players to post auctions in larger stacks.\r\rLearn more about professions this expansion with the Battle for Azeroth Profession Overview.\r\r\r\rTo address some issues related to the Auction House, we\u2019re reconsidering how deposits\u2014the refundable fees you pay to list your auctions\u2014are calculated. This fee is based on the item\u2019s vendor price, and for profession materials in particular, vendors offer very low prices, so these mats have a low deposit cost. Deposits are substantial on items such as BoE uncommon gear, gems, and so forth, but not trade skill materials (trade goods such as cloth, ore, leather, etc.).\r\rOne thing we\u2019ve identified as particularly troublesome is a large volume of trade skill materials being auctioned off in stacks of 1. Some addons make posting quantities of this size trivial to do, resulting in dozens, if not hundreds, of pages of auctions for a single item. As we looked at ways to change this behavior and improve the overall Auction House experience, we found that we prefer to avoid inflexible solutions such as caps on the number of listings a player can make, or increased minimum stack counts, which might interfere with many players' common gameplay habits.\r\rOur current plan is to increase the deposit cost of some profession materials on a per-stack basis, which should provide incentive for players to post items in larger stacks.\r\rHere's an example:\r\r\u2022\tLet\u2019s say that a player is trying to sell 200 Tidespray Linen for 10g (gold) each. Today, each item has the normal deposit cost of 1c (copper), with a 1s (silver) minimum deposit, so 1 auction of 200 linen requires a deposit of 1s, and 200 auctions of 1 linen each adds up to a total deposit of 2g.\r\r\u2022\tNow imagine an additional 20% deposit added to the listing fee per auction. With an asking price of 10g each, that raises the deposit by 2g per stack. In the case of 1 stack of 200 linen, the total buyout price is 2000g, and the new deposit is 2g1s. In the case of 200 individual stacks, the new deposit of an additional 2g per stack brings the total deposit up to 402g.\r\rIn either case, the deposit is returned to the seller if the item sells. Successful auctions aren\u2019t affected by this change.\r\rOur goal is to give players some forewarning on this change, and to gather feedback. We\u2019re putting together a list of the items that would be affected by this deposit change, which we expect to be limited to high-quantity trade goods. Furthermore, we\u2019re deploying the change to the PTR first, so that addon authors can work through the change while we test it thoroughly.\r\rThis change will likely be a temporary measure, as we\u2019re also working to broadly improve the default Auction House in the future. It\u2019s clear to us that many players use addons because they find the default Auction House interface inadequate. A temporary change to deposit fees will help with this in the short term, and we\u2019ll continue to work on overall improvements to the Auction House for a future patch.\r\r\r\rDid you enjoy this news article? Receive instant notifications when the latest news is published through the Wowhead Discord Webhook and join the community with Wowhead's Discord Server, Twitter, and Facebook.

Commenti

Commento di pikamaster

on 2018-08-27T20:01:35-05:00

THANK GOD! i'm sick to see like 100+ of 1 stack of a same seller ... There was one time where i saw someone selling 2258 of a same ore back in legion... TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTY EIGHT STACKS OF x1 ore (can't remember which ore was it)\r\rBut i'm so god damn glad for this.

Commento di yager05

on 2018-08-27T20:01:56-05:00

Not sure it's gonna work. If the item sells, seems pointless to me.

Commento di TheOldBear

on 2018-08-27T20:02:26-05:00

GOOD!\rI don't understand why people even do this. It's just rude.

Commento di Jetfyre

on 2018-08-27T20:02:32-05:00

Thank god they're addressing this! I never ever buy from people that do this sort of thing.

Commento di Agentkillerlee

on 2018-08-27T20:03:06-05:00

Not sure it's gonna work. If the item sells, seems pointless to me.\r\rWell then they aren't gonna make very much profit then.

Commento di Mioko

on 2018-08-27T20:03:49-05:00

So glad too, the auction house was nearly impossible to use...\rI just don't get why people sell thousands of stacks of 1, I just don't get it...

Commento di TutorialBlox

on 2018-08-27T20:04:20-05:00

I'm willing to get my rich friends and keep posting single stacks like crazy just to spite you people!

Commento di magicottermew

on 2018-08-27T20:05:06-05:00

Better solution: Allow people to buy any quantity they want from a stack posted on the auction house. Then we can just post our max stacks and not have to worry about meeting the demand for stacks of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 for every single item in the game.

GOOD!I don't understand why people even do this. It's just rude.

Because there are a great many number of people who will buy individual stacks of 1 because they need some arbitrary number of that item, and instead of buying a full stack, they buy what they need.

It's not rude to meet that demand. What's rude is expecting everyone to only post stacks of 200 and have people buy 199 more than they need.

Thank god they're addressing this! I never ever buy from people that do this sort of thing.

They're not really addressing it in a way that will solve the issue. I, for one, will continue to post stacks of one regardless of this change, because my stacks of 1 sell better than my larger stacks.

Not sure it's gonna work. If the item sells, seems pointless to me.

Well then they aren't gonna make very much profit then.

Seems you didn't understand the changes being made. There is no difference in profit if you get the deposit back when an item sells. The reason people post stacks of 1 is because stacks of 1 actually sell.

Commento di TutorialBlox

on 2018-08-27T20:06:06-05:00

Better solution: Allow people to buy any quantity they want from a stack posted on the auction house. Then we can just post our max stacks and not have to worry about meeting the demand for stacks of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 for every single item in the game.\r\rOoh lala I just want to kiss that dirty mouth of yours!

Commento di Blightbane3141

on 2018-08-27T20:06:23-05:00

It's great that they're finally doing something to address this issue! I really hope it makes a difference, but I'm unsure how successful auctions posted in stacks of one are generally (never done it myself.) If they all still continue to sell well, I don't see it solving much, since they get the gold back.

Commento di kharonThrall

on 2018-08-27T20:07:43-05:00

THANK GOD! i'm sick to see like 100+ of 1 stack of a same seller ... There was one time where i saw someone selling 2258 of a same ore back in legion... TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTY EIGHT STACKS OF x1 ore (can't remember which ore was it)\r\rBut i'm so god damn glad for this.\r\rEvery person should be able to play the game the way THEY want...if you don't like it get an AH addon and avoid the single stack stuff. If I only have a couple of an item I don't need to be penalized. This is absurd and will cause people that only have a couple of an item to just vendor it instead of risking losing money if the initial item(s) don't sell.

Commento di KaneoHunter

on 2018-08-27T20:07:50-05:00

I'm still going to post stacks of 1 lol\r\rif I put up 200 stacks of 1 and it all sells, it's no different to today's system\rif I put up 1 stack of 200 and don't find a buyer, I'm paying more than the person selling stacks of 1\r\rA deposit change means nothing if the auction sells.

Commento di Zigrifid

on 2018-08-27T20:08:33-05:00

Shouldnt blizz trying to fix the AH instead of "Discouraging" players? i mean its not that hard to integrate addons like auctioneer in the AH UI :\/

Commento di fox436

on 2018-08-27T20:08:51-05:00

bogs down the listing search for people trying to get a decent quantity. Give players the option to buy multiple stacks at once and its fixed but another problem may arise.

Commento di TutorialBlox

on 2018-08-27T20:10:51-05:00

I'm still going to post stacks of 1 lol\r\rif I put up 200 stacks of 1 and it all sells, it's no different to today's system\rif I put up 1 stack of 200 and don't find a buyer, I'm paying more than the person selling stacks of 1\r\rA deposit change means nothing if the auction sells.\r\rYup blizzard is just trying to be commies, I refuse to go along with them on this kinda crap.

Commento di Arraya

on 2018-08-27T20:13:42-05:00

While I hated the single stack selling, I think adding a \u201cStack\u201d option in the sorting options would work. (Where Name, Level, Time Left, etc options are)I doubt this new change will stop people from posting stacks of 1.

Commento di TheOldBear

on 2018-08-27T20:22:18-05:00

I'm still going to post stacks of 1 lol\r\rif I put up 200 stacks of 1 and it all sells, it's no different to today's system\rif I put up 1 stack of 200 and don't find a buyer, I'm paying more than the person selling stacks of 1\r\rA deposit change means nothing if the auction sells.\r\rYup blizzard is just trying to be commies, I refuse to go along with them on this kinda crap.\rlol

Commento di Nesthion

on 2018-08-27T20:22:26-05:00

I try to break up stacks into something like 10 or 20 in case someone doesn't want to buy 200. But to list 1 at a time is stupid. Especially when the action house has been so slow to load each action with all the traffic recently (runs quickly in the morning when most people are working, etc; I work at home so I am on often and intermittently).\r\rI say go for it. Even though it may not help since you get the deposit back if it sells. It could deter people especially if it costs 2 or 3 gold to list single stacks of a 6 gold listing or something.

Commento di LadyTannette

on 2018-08-27T20:24:32-05:00

Unfortunately, I don't see this stopping the trolls who post hundreds and hundreds of single items on the AH. Rather, it is more than likely going to encourage them to post it, just because its something that annoys other players. \r\rI don't foresee there being a deficit of individual stacks of trade goods, even if this does actually work as intended and cut down on the pages upon pages of individual items for sale. There are always going to be people who post one or two of an item that they have in their bags just to sell it quick to make space, just like there's still large stacks of items up right now. \r\rIts always the same people on my server doing this, many of whom I can name right off the top of my head because I have to sort through so many pages of nonsense to get to the things I actually need. One posted over 500 individual stacks of coarse leather the other day. Why is it so difficult to post two stacks of 200, one of 100, one of 50, 20, and so on and so forth?